February 26, 2015: Havana Biennial Announces Artist Lineup & 2014 Reports Show Record-Smashing Art Sales

Opening

In New York … Check out our neighborhood guide to tonight’s NYC openings.

In London … “Herbert Golser: Movement in Space” opens at rosenfeld porcini; Ciprian Muresan and Makiko Kudo open at Wilkinson Gallery; “Thomas Zipp: The Observer as System with Feedback” opens at Alison Jacques Gallery; “Lothar Hempel: Tropenkoller” opens at Stuart Shave/Modern Art; “Five Issues of Studio International” opens at Raven Row; “Analia Saban: Interiors” opens at Sprüth Magers; “IF CHAOS HAD A NAME” opens at The Invisible Line Gallery.

In Berlin … “James Hoff: The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over The Lazy Dog” opens at Supportico Lopez.

In Milan … “Gary Hill: Depth Charge” opens at Lia Rumma; “Francesco Santosuosso: Paesaggi simbolici” opens at Galleria Rubin.

Today’s Notable News

$15.2 billion of art sold at auction in 2014, showing an increase of 26 percent over 2013. With help from purchases by new museums, art sales have grown by 300% in the last ten years. (via The Telegraph)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has released an official statement condemning the destruction of Iraq’s Mosul Museum by ISIS militants, which is documented in a YouTube video released this morning. From the Met: “This mindless attack on great art, on history, and on human understanding constitutes a tragic assault not only on the Mosul Museum, but on our universal commitment to use art to unite people and promote human understanding. Such wanton brutality must stop, before all vestiges of the ancient world are obliterated.” (via New York Observer)

Swiss businessman Yves Bouvier has been taken into custody in Monaco for purportedly tampering with art sale prices. Dmitry Rybolovlev, Russian billionaire and owner of the AS Monaco football club, is one of many alleged victims of the scam. (via The Telegraph)

A Russian art collector has accused art historian Elena Basner and the State Russian Museum of conspiring to sell a fake version of Boris Grigoriev’s In the Restaurant (1913). (via The Art Newspaper)

The list of artists who will take part in this summer’s 12th Havana Biennial have been released, with Anish Kapoor, Daniel Buren, Joseph Kosuth, Anri Sala, and Tino Sehgal among the 120 artists from 40 countries who will participate. This exhibition will be the first since the decrease in tensions between the US government and Cuba. (via The Art Newspaper)

Dr. Kirsten Pai Buick, a professor at the University of New Mexico, has received the 2015 David C. Driskell Prize for her contributions to scholarship on African-American art history. The title is accompanied by a $25,000 cash prize. (via Creative Loafing Atlanta) 

The Philadelphia Museum of Art will close its South Asian galleries this Sunday for a planned renovation that will take over a year to complete. (via philly.com)

Emily Ballew Neff has been appointed executive director of the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. Neff was previously the first curator of American painting and sculpture at Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts. (via Memphis Business Journal)

Best of Instagram

Via @watermillcenter: “6 days and counting! Get your #SummerProgramApplication in for the chance to meet fellow artists from around the world and collaborate with @bob___wilson. #SummerProgramCountdown watermillcenter.org”